Satellite radio

Has anyone here purchased and installed (or ordered, on a new car) a satellite radio system? Which is the way to go, Serius (sp?) or XM? (Which is the VHS and which is the Betamax?!)

Thanks.

HW

Reply to
Hal Whelply
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xm is great but reception can be spotty

Reply to
Jkpoulos7

Exactly the same can be said for Sirius. I had it in a rental car with Sirius, and the signal would cut out if there were too many tree branches above the car. On the whole, I thought it was pretty good, but not worth the $10 to $13 per month that the subscription costs. My guess is that XM is the "VHS" and Sirius is the "Beta" simply because Sirius charges more for the monthly fee without any noticeable added benefit over XM. I'm not sure how this will actually play out, because both brands have support from major automobile and electronics companies.

Walt Kienzle

Reply to
Walt Kienzle

My brother-in-law designed the XM antenna. Two years ago when we visited him in Cleveland we drove to Akron and back twice with the unit on. I thought it was great. It has, I believe, about 4 seconds signal buffer to keep reception from fading for brief time under significant tree cover or overpasses. Frank

Reply to
Frank Logullo

How does it re-acquire the "missing" 4 seconds of content?

It's not like a CD where the unit can "rewind" a bit. If it's not re-transmitted, you can't re-recieve.

Maybe it *is* constantly re-transmitted with some delay on a secondary channel, for all I know, but I'd think they'd have better uses for the bandwidth.

Reply to
Jack Gavin

Good question. You got me there - I'm just a chemist. That was just the way brother-in-law told it to me and I did not give it further thought. Frank

Reply to
Frank Logullo

I heard that there was some kind of buffer - I didn't know it was 4 seconds. The way it is usually implemented is that you hear the program with a 4 second delay if the signal is normal. When the signal is interrupted the, 4 seconds in the buffer is used up. If the signal is interrupted for less than 4 seconds, you don't notice anything. If it is more than 4 seconds, then you appear to get dead air. When the signal is re-established (some sort of "acquiring signal" message indicating this appears on the display) then it fills up the buffer again. Remember, this is all digital, so they can send 4 seconds of programming in a fraction of a second.

Walt Kienzle

Reply to
Walt Kienzle

But the satellite does not know that the individual receiver needs a double helping of the particular 4 seconds of content.

It may be that they routinely double-send *all* of the content (with a delay), which I noted as a (bandwidth-intensive) possibility, but otherwise the receiver would be out of luck since it missed its one-and-only opportunity to get a signal for that 4 seconds of content.

Reply to
Jack Gavin

Jack, If you lose satellite signal, and get it back within 4 seconds, you will lose that amount of time in content, but the radio will continue to play. It will sound like a skip. Then, as the buffer fills up, the audio that`arrives at the speakers is s t r e t c h e d to allow the buffer time get a little farther ahead. If signal is lost for a longer period of time, the receiver is silenced, then begins to play immediately upon signal acquisition and the 'stretch' then takes almost a minute to allow the buffer to fill.

Signal problems are more noticable >

Reply to
Bill Radio

I put a Delphi XM unit in my Volvo. The biggest problem is making the installation look good. The car kit they sell leaves you with a cigarette lighter adapter, a cassette player adapter for sound input and a stick-on mount for the HU. It looks pretty bad. I bought the FM modulator which really helps clean it all up.

The biggest difference between XM and Sirius used to be that Sirius, at $13 a month, is commercail-free. Beginning March 1, XM will be commercial-free as well and its only $10 a month. Sound quality is CD or better with both units. I would make my decision based on two things:

- Programming. Its different. Pick the one that suits your tastes best.

- HUs and installation. Find a HU that you like and will fit in a convenient spot in your car. The regular audio HUs that state they are satellite ready are really just set up as controllers. You still need to buy a satellite tuner to go with it (and find a place to mount it. In this case, it could be hidden).

That being said, XM ROCKS! :)

John

Reply to
Fred Flintstone

Have Sirius in my 03 Legacy SE - love it. Primary reason was I wanted an alternative to AM talk radio, but also love the commercial free music (XM is apparently going that way). It also has exclusive sports deals with NFL, NBA, NHL...although the only sport I'm interested in that they broadcast is English soccer on the BBC :-)

If you want advocates of the two systems, go to:

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Don't know if really it's a VHS/Betamax split - the conventional view is that Sirius is Beta - it costs more and was later to market. But imho its programming is way better, and it's 100% Clear Channel free :-)

Reply to
Alan Pollard

Ah, that clears it up. Thanks.

Reply to
Jack Gavin

Ooops. You mean beginning March 1st.

Oh yeah it kicks ass. I was listening to it right now on my radio at home. I have the portable unit. Comes with a remote and can go from car to home.

It kicks ass. Disco all the time? No problemo. CNBC? Oh yeah.

80's gotcha. I just love.

I've sold about 10 to my friends (or sold them for xm).

Gotta go, I wanna be a cowboy just came on...

Yeah haaahahahah!

nate

Reply to
uglymoney

oops. oops. Feb 1st!

Godamnit.

Reply to
uglymoney

Sat radio is in no way shape or form 'CD quality or better'. It is compressed for obvious reasons. Having said that, the sound, to me, is acceptable and very good. John

Reply to
John M.

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